Covid-19 Surge: Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat Report Highest Single-Day Spike Since Start Of Pandemic

Amid the second wave of the pandemic gripping the country, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh on Sunday reported their highest single-day covid-19 spike since the beginning of the pandemic.

The development comes at a time when India is facing a vaccine crunch, with many states such as Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal running out of jabs and shutting down inoculation centres.

In a related development, the Centre banned the export of Remdesivir, a key drug used in the treatment of Covid-19.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra, which has been battling a massive surge in the number of Covid-19 infections for the past one month, logged 63,294 new cases on Sunday, which pushed its caseload to 34,07,245, the health department said.

The death of 349 patients due to the infection took the state's toll to 57,987. Meanwhile, the state’s recovery count increased to 27,82,161, a statement from the department noted.

There are 5,65,587 active covid-19 cases in the state at present. Currently, 31,75,585 people are in home quarantine and 25,694 in institutional quarantine, it said.

Mumbai reported 9,986 cases and 79 deaths, which took its caseload to 5,20,498 and death toll to 12,023. Meanwhile, Mumbai division, which includes the city and its satellite towns, reported 19,953 new cases and 98 fatalities. Its infection count now is 10,84,174 and fatality count 21,126.

Pune division saw 14,653 cases, including 6,923 in Pune city, Nagpur division 10,134 cases, including 4,334 in Nagpur city, Nashik division 8,146 cases, Kolhapur division 1,036 cases, Aurangabad division 3,015 cases, Latur division reported 4,981 cases and Akola division 1,376 cases.

The coronavirus figures in Maharashtra are as follows: Case count 34,07,245, death toll 57,987, recoveries 27,82,161 active cases 5,65,587, total tests 2,21,14,372, tests on Sunday 2,63,137.

Uttar Pradesh

As the state reported a record spike of 15,353 new infections on Sunday, the state government ordered the closure of all schools till April 30.

According to a government statement, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also ordered the imposition of a night curfew from 9 pm to 6 am in the districts, which have reported 100 new infections in a day or have 500 active cases.

All coaching centres will also remain closed during the period. All government and private schools will remain closed till April 30 while pre-scheduled examinations can be held, the order stated.

The fresh directions came in the aftermath of a spike in coronavirus cases with the authorities imposing a night curfew in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Allahabad, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Muzaffarnagar districts and the Lucknow civic body area.

Earlier on April 2, the UP government had extended till April 11 the closure of all schools for students of Classes 1 to 8.

On Sunday, Lucknow reported the maximum 4,444 cases, followed by 1,740 in Varanasi, 1,565 in Allahabad and 881 in Kanpur, the UP government said in another statement.

Of the fresh deaths, state capital Lucknow reported the highest 31, followed by nine in Allahabad, eight in Kanpur, two each in Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar and Chandauli and one each in Varanasi, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Ballia, Ayodhya, Lakhimpur-Khiri, Jaunpur, Deoria, Rae Bareli, Ghazipur, Rampur, Basti and Kannauj.

The count of active Covid-19 cases in the state stands at 71,241, the statement said.

So far, 6,11,622 Covid-19 patients in the state have recovered from the disease.

Meanwhile, the UP chief minister said an effective Covid-19 vaccination drive should be carried out as a four-day "Tika Utsav" that began in the country on Sunday.

The four-day vaccination programme, which began on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Jyotibha Phule, will continue till April 14, the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar.

Gujarat

Gujarat reported 5,469 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, which took its caseload to 3,47,495, the health department said.

The death toll due to the virus went up to 4,800 as 54 patients succumbed to the infection during the day.

Of them, 20 died in Ahmedabad district, followed by 18 in Surat, seven in Vadodara, five in Rajkot, two in Banaskantha, and one each in Gandhinagar and Jamnagar.

Ahmedabad city registered 1,504 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. It was followed by 1,087 cases in Surat city, 405 in Rajkot city, 361 in Surat district, 277 in Vadodara city, 189 in Jamnagar city, 139 in Vadodara district, 127 in Mehsana, 124 in Patan and 123 in Jamnagar district.

The state’s covid-19 recovery rate dropped to 90.69 per cent.

The number of active cases in the state now stands at 27,568. Of these, 203 patients are on ventilator support.

As many as 80.55 lakh persons in the state were given the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, while 10.67 lakh were administered the second dose till date, the release said.

A total of 76 new cases were reported in the adjoining union territory of Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in the last 24 hours, the authorities said in a statement.

Of the total number of 4,058 people found positive for coronavirus in the union territory since the outbreak, two have died, 3,659 have recovered, while 397 cases are still active, the UT administration said in the release.

Gujarat's Covid-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 3,47,495, new cases 5,469, death toll 4,800, discharged 3,15,127, active cases 27,568 and people tested so far - figures not released.

(With PTI inputs)